This invention relates to fishing equipment and, particularly, to an improved handle and reel seat for use with a fishing rod.
Fishing has for centuries been a major source of food, income and sport for peoples around the world. This is true today, and is expected to remain true for centuries to come.
The equipment of today's fisherman is quite unlike that used in years gone by. Just as technological advancements have greatly changed many aspects of our daily lives, so too have they changed our fishing habits. For example, fishing reels have greatly advanced from the original single spool or bar used to wrap the line around by hand. There are now specialized bait casting reels, spin casting and conventional casting reels, automatic and single-action fly reels, and salt water, fresh water and ultralight open-face and skirted-spool spinning reels, to name but a few. Materials used include teflon and other synthetic discs, hard-chromed and tungsten carbide roller guides, aluminum, brass and synthetic gears, and stainless steel, brass and oil-impregnated bushings and ball bearings.
Accompanying these advancements in fishing reel technology have also come many changes in the original wood stick fishing rod. Rod blanks, as they are called, are now available in bamboo, solid glass, tubular fiber glass and the relatively new graphite composite constructions. These rod blanks are then outfitted with either roller guides for the fishing line or with conventional ring guides made of simple or hard-chromed stainless steel or tungsten carbide and possibly including agate or graphite composite inserts.
Rod handles and reel seats for atfachment of these fishing reels have also undergone much change during this period. The major considerations behind these changes have been to provide a grip that is comfortable and structurally sturdy, and one that further securely seats the reel while being easily disassembled to store or replace the equipment. In this regard, rod handles and reel seats can be generally categorized in three groups:
First, handles are still available consisting of a single body portion (usually cork with an aluminum reinforcing tube) and having two metal rings to slip over the reel feet on the T-shaped bar support standard on most fishing reels. This handle is particularly adapted for use with spinning reels of the open-face or skirted-spool variety. However, it provides the major disadvantage that the rings often loosen and slide off the reel feet thereby releasing the reel while in use.
A second variety of rod handle includes a single body member having an exposed metal reel seat attachment somewhere along its length. In the case of spinning and fly rods, this reel seat generally comprises two metal rings which again slide over the ends of the reel feet. In this case, however, at least one locking ring is provided to screwably hold the single movable ring in place. The problem of reel slippage discussed above is thus not as significant with these handles, although it does occur. The exposed metal gripping portions of these handles, however, are often uncomfortable during long hours of use and get very cold during wintery weather.
The third type of handle design, only recently on the market, provides some form of hidden reel seat where the reel feet on the T-shaped support are secured inside the handle portion itself with no metal parts exposed. In all such handles presently available, this feature is accomplished by a twist-apart two-piece handle in which either the front or back portion untwists at the opening for the T-shaped bar to reveal the hidden reel seat. Examples of these handles include the "SUPER SPEED" Stick Spinning Rod marketed by the Lew Fuji Shimano Company, and the Fenwick and the Childre & Sons models mentioned on pages 115 of the February, 1977 issue of "Outdoor Life" magazine. It is noted, however, that the supposed Fenwick hidden seat handle, Design No. 10, was mentiond on page 16 of its 1977 catalog, but was excluded from its 1978 edition.
One further example of this new handle design is disclosed in Ohmura, U.S. Pat. No. 3,883,978. In this model, the back portion of the handle unscrews at the location of T-bar 3 to enable the reel to be properly seated.
Even these hidden-seat handles mentioned above have disadvantages during use. Although all previously exposed rings, screws and other metal parts are hidden, the exposed seam at the point of seating and gripping of the handle can provide discomfort and may also loosen during extended use. In addition, repeated locking and removal of the reel within the hidden seat may stretch or damage the rubber or other material at this seam thereby adding to the discomfort and possibly loosening the reel grip.